Mining giant quits controversial Bristol Bay project in Alaska

Aerial view of site for giant proposed Pebble Mine near Bristol Bay in Alaska. Frying Pan Lake, pictured here, would disappear beneath a giant pile of tailings. Bristol Bay is one of the world’s greatest fisheries.

A second big European-based mining conglomerate has pulled out of the proposed Pebble Mine project in Alaska.

The mine would adjoin the headwaters of two major salmon spawning streams that support Bristol Bay’s half-billi0n-dollar salmon fishery.

The withdrawal by London-based Rio Tinto, which owned 19 percent of the project, comes a month after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency initiated proceedings under the Clean Water Project to block the open pit mine and huge planned tailings dam.

The project would have “significant and irreversible negative impacts” on the Bristol Bay fishery, the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world.

The fishery employs more than 14,000 seasonal and full-time workers. Bristol Bay produced a staggering 25.7 million salmon one recent season.

More than 1,100 Puget Sound-based fishers have licenses to fish in Bristol Bay. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Seattle-based fishing companies and even leading chefs (e.g. Tom Douglas) have opposed the Pebble Mine. Ben Bridge and Tiffany have said they would not purchase precious metals from the mine.

Responding to Rio Tinto’s decision, Cantwell said: “This is a clear signal that salmon are not compatible with the massive Pebble Mine project. We cannot afford to pollute clean waters to put Northwest fisheries jobs at risk.”

The Anglo-American Corp., which owned a 50 percent share in the Pebble project, pulled out last September. Anglo-American had invested $541 million in the project and absorbing a $300 million penalty by leaving. Its withdrawal left Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty Minerals and Rio Tinto as prime participants in the project.

Rio Tinto is giving is shares to two public service projects in Alaska, the Alaska Community Corporation and the Bristol Bay Native Corp. Education Fund.

The Bristol Bay Native Corp. has been a leading critic and opponent of the Pebble Mine, a position it reiterated on Monday.

Appeals from Bristol Bay native groups helped prompt the EPA to conduct extensive studies on impacts of the proposed mine. It found that the Pebble Mine would harm as many as 91 miles of salmon spawning habitat, damage wetlands, and risk catastrophic consequences should toxic mine tailings leech or be spilled into streams that support chinook and sockeye spawning streams.

The Pebble Mine project has been controversial even in Alaska, a state long in the pocket of the mining industry.

Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, usually a supporter of mines, came out against the Pebble Mine earlier this spring. “Wrong mine, wrong place, too big,” Begich told the Anchorage Daily News. “Too many potential long-term impacts to a fishery that is pretty critical to that area but also to Alaska, to world markets.”

But Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, during a recent Seattle appearance, accused the EPA of prejudging the project and said the state of Alaska should decide its fate.